Traditionally, natural rubbers have been mainly used as raw materials for products requiring flexibility such as gloves for industrial, medical and food applications and balloons. However, nitrile rubbers are rapidly replacing natural rubbers because the natural rubbers cause side effects, such as serious protein allergies, in some users.
Also, since nitrile rubbers have high oil resistance, the nitrile rubbers are widely used in working gloves handling organic solvents or medical and food gloves. In addition, nitrile rubber products are suitable for use by medical personnel who handle a scalpel or an injection needle because they are not easily perforated by the injection needle in comparison to natural rubber products.
Recently, many glove manufacturers are changing natural rubber glove production lines to nitrile glove production lines due to unstable supply of natural rubber, and nitrile disposable gloves have tended to be widely used while safety awareness has increased.
According to these trends, glove manufacturers aim at producing groves, which are thin but do not tear easily, in order to increase the productivity of the production of gloves, and steadily demand a latex for dip forming, which may be used to produce gloves having high tensile strength and excellent durability, from the initial production of the nitrile gloves.
Another factor, among factors that the user considers when using a glove, is wearing comfort. However, with respect to the nitrile rubber glove, since a modulus is relatively high in comparison to a glove prepared from natural rubber, wearing comfort is poor in comparison to the glove prepared from natural rubber.
There has been a continuous need to increase quality, such as tensile strength and durability, of a glove in manufacturing technique of the nitrile rubber glove, and furthermore, a glove giving wearing comfort is required. Thus, there is a need to develop a latex composition for dip forming which provides wearing comfort due to a low modulus while having high tensile strength, durability, and elongation.